Bandages are long known in the art and are covers of various sizes and shapes that typically include a pad portion that may or may not be absorbent, and are made to be placed over wounds or incisions in order to keep the area clean and to prevent infection. By design, many bandages include an adhesive agent that is made to adhere well to the skin and to resist the effects of moisture, body secretions and sweat. Adhesive strength is advantageous until the bandage must be removed, which often is a painful process for the patient, especially if the adhesive portions are adhered over hair or sensitive skin. Moreover, adhesive remaining on the skin may collect debris and become a breeding ground for bacteria.
With varying success, attempts have been made to design an adhesive bandage which may be removed painlessly. Such “painless” adhesive bandages tend to fall broadly in two categories: those that rely on a solvent which is released by breaking a seal separating the solvent and the adhesive in order to dissolve the adhesive agent, and others which rely on heating the adhesive directly until it degrades sufficiently to remove the bandage from the skin without sticking. In the first case, liquid solvents are difficult to segregate from the adhesive layer and accidental breaking of the seal during bandage application means a wasted bandage. In the second case, application of heat sufficient to directly degrade the adhesive is typically painful for the patient. In addition, various heat deactivated bandages described in the art are either deactivated at a temperature too low to be practical such as 30 Celsius, in which case the bandage may fall off when exposed to normal human body temperature, or, the adhesive deactivation temperature is excessively high, in which case the patient may suffer pain when the heat is applied.
What is needed is an adhesive bandage that includes an adhesive which is indirectly degradable by a heat source that activates an adhesive release agent. It would be desirable if the temperature at which the adhesive release agent is activated is sufficiently high so that undesirable loosening of the bandage does not occur under normal circumstances, and also sufficiently low so that the patient experiences no pain from heat application when the bandage is removed.